Volusia toddler hospitalized after backyard pit-bull attack

An 18-month-old boy is recovering after he was attacked by a pit bull while playing in his backyard Friday, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

The boy's mother, Sarah Hunter, told deputies she and her son were playing in the backyard of their Commerce Avenue home in rural DeLeon Springs about 5 p.m. when the pit bull bit him in the face and on the head in an attack that apparently was unprovoked, sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant said.

Officials said the dog left the toddler with several cuts on the left side of his face near his eye.